Local By-elections

'The people of Lossiemouth will be left without a councillor until March because a parliamentary motion which would have allowed an earlier election will not be introduced in time.'
Gerard Burke in the Press & Journal, 7 th December 2001.

Lossiemouth East (Moray) 21 st March 2002

Lossiemouth East - ward 13

A by-election was held in the Lossiemouth East ward of Moray Council on the 21 st March 2002 following the resignation of Cllr Alistair (Alexander) Fleming on the 3 rd of December 2001 due to work commitments. Independent Cllr Wilma Flynn of Lossiemouth West resigned on the same day for health reasons.

Lossiemouth East is in the Moray Westminster parliamentary seat (held by the Scottish National Party's Angus Robertson MP) and in the Moray Scottish parliamentary seat (held by the Scottish National Party's Margaret Ewing until her death in March 2006 and by the SNP's Richard Lochhead MSP since April 2006).

Independent Cllr Thomas Bothwell

Candidate	Party	Votes	%	% change
21 st March 2002 By-election Turnout 32.5 % (- 25.0 %)
Thomas M. Bothwell	Independent	373	41.2 %	(+ 41.2 %)
	Scottish National Party	199	22.0 %	- 6.6 %
	Independent	187	20.6 %	(+ 20.6 %)
Timothy G. F. Wood	Conservative	147	16.2 %	(+ 16.2 %)
Independent hold	Independent majority	174	19.2 %	- 23.6 %

Candidate	Party	Votes	%	% change
6 th May 1999 Turnout 57.5 % (+ 14.2 %)
Alexander J. Fleming	Independent	1,023	71.4 %	+ 27.4 %
Cllr Duncan Crawford	Scottish National Party	409	28.6 %	- 27.4 %
Independent gain from Scottish National Party	Independent majority	614	42.8 %

Lossiemouth ward 9

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
6 th April 1995 Turnout 43.3 %
Duncan Crawford	Scottish National Party	850	56.0 %
Alexander J. Fleming	Independent	668	44.0 %
Scottish National Party win	Scottish National Party majority	182	37.1 %

Election clash leaves Lossie with a councillor

By Gerard Burke in the Press & Journal, 7 th December 2001

THE people of Lossiemouth will be left without a councillor until March because a parliamentary motion which would have allowed an earlier election will not be introduced in time.

Both of the town's councillors resigned this week, leaving the area without representation on Moray Council.

Officials had hoped to hold a double by-election on Thursday, January 31, but that will not be possible because it is too close to the date of local council elections originally planned for May.

Councils are not allowed to hold by-elections within six months of local elections, at which every councillor in Scotland will be selected, but the Scottish Executive plans to move the local elections from May, 2002, to May, 2003.

That would mean a by-election in January would be possible, but the legislation making the change will not be passed until early next year.

That leaves too little time for the by-elections to be advertised, so they will have to be delayed until March.

Alistair Fleming and Wilma Flynn, Lossiemouth's councillors, both resigned on Monday.

Mr Fleming had been under pressure to step down for some time as he had accepted a job in Manchester, but he stayed on as the councillor for Lossiemouth East until he was certain his move would be permanent.

Mrs Flynn has been struggling with osteoporosis for some time and decided to resign due to difficulties in attending council meetings.

Political parties have already begun the process of selecting their candidates for the elections and the SNP are expected to announce that Joyce Stewart, Margaret Ewing's political researcher, will stand in Lossiemouth West, where she lives.

Dr George Gormley, a GP who served Lossiemouth for more than 30 years, is expected to confirm that he will be standing as an independent in Lossiemouth East.